Kufuor distances himself from Akufo-Addo-led NPP rule

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor says several major decisions under the Akufo-Addo administration sidelined him and contributed to the New Patriotic Party’s 2024 electoral defeat.

Kufuor, speaking in an interview on The Delay Show, warned that the outcome of the 2024 general election should serve as a “serious lesson” to political leaders.

He argued that the NPP’s fall from its 2016 peak reflected governance missteps, unilateral decisions, and a disregard for public sentiment.

“This shows that the Ghanaian electorate cannot be taken for granted. It is a lesson for politicians to be mindful of their actions,” he said.

The former president criticised key decisions taken during the administration, citing the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the National Cathedral project, and the Power Distribution Services deal as actions that deeply troubled him.

“After the COVID-19 pandemic, I could not understand some of the decisions taken, including the bond market issues, PDS, and the National Cathedral project, which has still not been completed,” he stated.

Kufuor said he was not involved in consultations on any of these initiatives, stressing that he only learned about some of them after implementation had begun.

“I was not consulted, as I did not attend cabinet meetings. I only saw the construction,” he disclosed. He added that he found it worrying that residential apartments for judges and other officials were demolished to make way for a Cathedral project that remains unfinished. “Apartments that housed judges and others were demolished for the National Cathedral, yet it remains unfinished,” he lamented.

He emphasised that the NPP’s 2016 landslide victory was heavily built on his own achievements.

“Before the 2016 election in which Akufo-Addo was elected, the campaign was built on my achievements. Those achievements played a key role in his victory,” he said. However, he noted that “things changed after he assumed power,” pointing to what he described as a sharp shift in policy direction.

Reflecting on the party’s electoral decline, Kufuor pointed to the dramatic shift from the 2016 triumph to the tense, hung Parliament of 2020, and then the eventual loss in 2024. “We won the 2016 elections by a landslide. The 2020 elections were tense and produced a hung Parliament, and the 2024 elections were something else entirely,” he observed.

Kufuor maintained that the 2024 outcome reinforces the need for leaders to govern with accountability and respect for the electorate’s expectations.